Press releases, 13.07.2018

Switzerland welcomes the approval by UN member states of the draft 'Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration'. The conclusion of the negotiations is an important step towards common standards among states to boost the positive aspects of migration and to contain the negative aspects through joint efforts. Switzerland and Mexico led the negotiation process, which has now been successfully concluded.

Three men and a woman hold each other's hands and stretch them into the air.
Through Ambassador Jürg Lauber's work as co-lead of the negotiation process, Switzerland was able to play a key role in an important UN process. © FDFA

In the course of the past 15 months, under instruction from the President of the UN General Assembly, Switzerland's representative to the United Nations in New York, Ambassador Jürg Lauber, and his Mexican counterpart, Ambassador Juan José Gómez Camacho, have gathered contributions and experience from states on the subject of migration, prepared an initial draft framework for the global coordination of migration and consulted with the international community on this draft framework. The approval of the draft by UN member states thus brings the negotiation phase for the new Global Compact for Migration to an end. The text is due to be submitted for adoption to the heads of state and government of the 193 UN member states at an intergovernmental conference in Marrakech (Morocco) in December 2018.

In concluding the Global Compact negotiations, the UN member states have reached joint agreement on a practical framework for action which strengthens international cooperation in all areas of migration governance and ensures that migration issues are firmly embedded and subject to regular review within the UN. The document contains ten principles (e.g. the universal validity of human rights for all migrants; the sovereign right of states to determine their own migration policies), 23 goals and a list of measures to achieve each goal. While the goals reflect the common commitment of all states, the measures provide possible instruments that states can implement independently, depending on their priorities and capacities. The Global Compact also serves as a reference document for enhanced cooperation between states, but also with other actors such as the private sector or civil society.

From a Swiss perspective, the conclusion of negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is a recognition by states that no state can cope with the complexity of migration on its own. The UN is therefore the right place to tackle migration together from a global and inclusive perspective. Through Ambassador Jürg Lauber's work as co-lead of the negotiation process, Switzerland was also able to play a key role in an important UN process on a significant issue of our time, and to demonstrate its credibility in fulfilling its role within the international community.


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